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Crypto Daybook Americas: Litecoin Leads on Optimistic ETF Signal as Market Rallies After Powell Talks
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
The crypto market is trading positively with the Fed risk event out of the way, focusing on positives such as the crypto-friendly president in the White House, the renewed upswing in Tether’s market, and the bullish Chinese New Year effect.
Among cryptocurrencies with $5 billion-plus market valuations, the standout performer is litecoin (LTC), the silver to bitcoin’s gold, which has jumped more than 11% since the early Asian hours compared with gains of 1% to 3% for the rest. It is the third-best performing of the top 100 coins in the past 24 hours, thanks to the SEC acknowledging Canary Capital’s Litecoin ETF proposal. That has opened for public feedback, a move that hints at potential approval in the coming months.
«This is the first altcoin ETF filing to get acknowledged,» Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on X, noting that the proposal is the one to make the most progress in regulatory requirements.
A potential listing could be as positive for LTC as it has been for BTC and ETH. Note that despite the price surge to $130, LTC is still well short of the $410 record high hit in 2021. Its price chart shows a constructive outlook (check out the Technical Analysis section below).
In other key developments, on-chain activity tracked by Glassnode shows a lower level of retail participation in BTC right than in November. That’s encouraging for bulls looking for cues on whether the latest move above $100,000 is sustainable. Meanwhile, Lombard Finance is becoming more dominant in the bitcoin staking space, capturing a giant share of the total BTC staked this week.
The number of Ethereum’s active addresses recently topped a March 2024 high, signaling a renewed uptick in the on-chain activity, according to IntoTheBlock data. Ether’s price has crossed above $3,200 but is yet to clear the bearish trendline connecting the Dec. 16 and Jan. 6 highs.
In traditional markets, the yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note has dropped to 4.50%, revisiting Monday’s low in a bullish move for risk assets. Those bullish on BTC may be hoping for U.S. core PCE inflation to come in softer-than-expected later today, driving the bond yield even lower.
That said, we will also get fourth-quarter GDP alongside the weekly jobless claims report. Meanwhile, European gas prices have surged to a 15-month high and could inject some volatility into risk assets. Stay alert!
What to Watch
Crypto:
Jan. 31: Crypto.com is suspending purchases of cryptocurrencies USDT, WBTC, DAI, PAX, PAXG, PYUSD, CDCETH, CDCSOL, LCRO, and XSGD in the EU to comply with MiCA regulations. Withdrawals will be supported through Q1.
Feb. 2, 8:00 p.m.: Core blockchain Athena hard fork network upgrade (v1.0.14)
Feb. 4: Pepecoin (PEPE) halving. At block 400,000, the reward will drop to 31,250 PEPE.
Feb. 5, 3:00 p.m.: Boba Network’s Holocene hard fork network upgrade for its Ethereum-based layer-2 mainnet.
Feb. 5 (after market close): MicroStrategy (MSTR) Q4 FY 2024 earnings.
Feb. 6, 8:00 a.m.: Shentu Chain network upgrade (v2.14.0).
Feb. 11 (after market close): Exodus Movement (EXOD) Q4 2024 earnings.
Feb. 12 (before market open): Hut 8 (HUT) Q4 2024 earnings.
Feb. 13 (after market close): Coinbase Global (COIN) Q4 2024 earnings.
Feb. 15: Qtum (QTUM) hard fork network upgrade at block 4,590,000.
Feb. 18 (after market close): Semler Scientific (SMLR) Q4 2024 earnings.
Feb. 20 (after market close): Block (XYZ) Q4 2024 earnings.
Feb. 26: MARA Holdings (MARA) Q4 2024 earnings.
Feb. 27: Riot Platforms (RIOT) Q4 2024 earnings.
Macro
Jan. 30: At a meeting of the Czech National Bank board, Governor Aleš Michl is presenting his plan for the central bank to adopt bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Jan. 30, 8:15 a.m.: The ECB announces its interest-rate decision. This is followed by a press conference at 8:45 a.m. Livestream link.
Deposit Facility Rate Est. 2.75% vs. Prev. 3%.
Main Refinancing Rate Est. 2.9% vs. Prev. 3.15%.
Marginal Lending Rate Prev. 3.4%.
Jan. 30, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases Q4 Advance GDP report.
GDP Growth Rate QoQ Est. 2.8% vs. Prev. 3.1%.
GDP Price Index QoQ Est. 2.5% vs. Prev. 1.9%.
Initial Jobless Claims for Week Ended Jan. 25 Est. 220K vs. Prev. 223K.
Continuing Jobless Claims Est. 18900K vs. Prev. 1899K.
Core PCE Prices QoQ Est. 2.5% vs. Prev. 2.2%.
PCE Prices QoQ Prev. 1.5%.
Real Consumer Spending QoQ Prev. 3.7%.
Jan. 30, 4:30 p.m.: The Federal Reserve releases H.4.1 report on Factors Affecting Reserve Balances for the week ended Jan. 29.
Balance Sheet Prev. $6.83T.
Jan. 30, 6:30 p.m.: Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications releases December unemployment report.
Unemployment Rate Est. 2.5% vs. Prev. 2.5%.
Jan. 30, 6:50 p.m.: Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry releases December industrial production (preliminary) report.
Industrial Production MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. -2.2%.
Industrial Production YoY Prev. -2.8%.
Retail Sales MoM Prev. 1.8%.
Retail Sales YoY Est. 3.2% vs. Prev. 2.8%.
Jan. 31, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases December 2024’s Personal Income and Outlays report.
Core PCE Price Index MoM Est. 0.2% vs. Prev. 0.1%.
Core PCE Price Index YoY Est. 2.8% vs. Prev. 2.8%.
PCE Price Index MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.1%.
PCE Price Index YoY Est. 2.6% vs. Prev. 2.4%.
Token Events
Governance votes & calls
Rarible DAO is voting whether to grant the Rari Foundation a mandate to collaborate with Rarible on implementing multichain protocol fee collection and designing a primary protocol fee structure for NFT mints.
CoW DAO is voting on granting its Core Treasury Team an allocation of 80 million COW tokens to support liquidity provisioning, treasury growth, and product development for CoW DAO from 2025 to 2028.
Synapse DAO is voting on upgrading SYN token to CX from the Cortex Protocol and holders of both enjoy the same value.
Unlocks
Jan. 31: Optimism (OP) to unlock 2.32% of circulating supply worth $46.39 million.
Feb. 1: Sui (SUI) to unlock about 2.13% of its circulating supply worth $261.91 million.
Feb. 2: Ethena (ENA) to unlock about 1.34% of its circulating supply worth $29.53 million.
Token Listings
Jan. 30: Pepe (PEPE) to be listed on Bitflyer.
Conferences:
Day 2 of 3: Crypto Peaks 2025 (Palisades, California)
Jan. 30, 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.: International DeFi Day 2025 (online)
Day 1 of 2: Ethereum Zurich 2025
Day 1 of 2: Plan B Forum (San Salvador, El Salvador)
Day 1 of 3: Crypto Gathering 2025 (Miami Beach, Florida)
Day 1 of 3: CryptoXR 2025 (Auxerre, France)
Day 1 of 4: Oasis Onchain 2025 (Nassau, Bahamas)
Day 1 of 6: The Satoshi Roundtable (Dubai)
Feb. 3: Digital Assets Forum (London)
Feb. 5-6: The 14th Global Blockchain Congress (Dubai)
Feb. 6: Ondo Summit 2025 (New York).
Feb. 7: Solana APEX (Mexico City)
Feb. 13-14: The 4th Edition of NFT Paris.
Feb. 18-20: CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong
Feb. 19: Sui Connect: Hong Kong
Feb. 23-March 2: ETHDenver 2025 (Denver, Colorado)
Feb. 25: HederaCon 2025 (Denver)
Token Talk
By Shaurya Malwa
The JELLY token soared to a $200 million market capitalization in latest example of Web2 startup founders launching their own tokens.
The token was launched by Sam Lessin, a co-founder of Venmo, to bootstrap and gain traction for a new video chat app called Jelly.
JELLY is integrated into Jelly eSports, which includes features like Solana Boxes, a loot box game where players can win luxury items by spinning with SOL or JELLY tokens.
Fees from using JELLY are dynamically allocated to burning, staking, liquidity provision incentives, gamification and team support.
Derivatives Positioning
Litecoin’s perpetual futures open interest has surged nearly 20% in 24 hours with positive net cumulative volume delta (CVD) signaling net buying.
TRX, SUI and BTC also boast of a positive net CVD.
BTC and ETH CME futures premiums tick higher in a sign of traders chasing bullish exposure.
On Deribit, BTC and ETH calls continue to trade pricier than puts. Block flows have been mixed, featuring calendar spreads and short vol strategies like short straddles.
Market Movements:
BTC is up 0.86% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday to $105,190.06 (24hrs: +2.46%)
ETH is up 2.63% at $3,134.98 (24hrs: +2.62%)
CoinDesk 20 is up 1.74% to 3,826.50 (24hrs: +2.41%)
CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 3 bps to 3.03%
BTC funding rate is at 0.0092% (10.12% annualized) on Binance
DXY is unchanged at 107.98
Gold is up 0.91% at $2,778.26/oz
Silver is up 1.11% at $31.05/oz
Nikkei 225 closed +0.25% to 39,513.97
Hang Seng closed +0.14% to 20,225.11
FTSE is up 0.34% at 8,587.03
Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.73% at 5,269.01
DJIA closed on Wednesday -0.31% to 44,713.52
S&P 500 closed -0.47% to 6,039.31
Nasdaq closed -0.51% to 19,632.32
S&P/TSX Composite Index closed +0.21% to 25,473.30
S&P 40 Latin America closed unchanged at 2,336.48
U.S. 10-year Treasury is down 3 bps at 4.51%
E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.33% at 6,087.50
E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.49% at 21,627.75
E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.38% at 45,062.00
Bitcoin Stats:
BTC Dominance: 59.53 (-0.51%)
Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.03054 (1.73%)
Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 774 EH/s
Hashprice (spot): $62.2
Total Fees: 4.82 BTC/ $494,506
CME Futures Open Interest: 170,105 BTC
BTC priced in gold: 38.0 oz
BTC vs gold market cap: 10.80%
Technical Analysis
LTC has broken out of a multimonth basing pattern, indicating a renewed bullish shift in momentum.
Resistance is seen at $150 followed by $300, with support at $86, the December swing low.
Crypto Equities
MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Wednesday at $341.25 (+1.58%), up 0.87% at $343.86 in pre-market.
Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $291.00 (+3.26%), up 0.69% at $293 in pre-market.
Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$29.09 (+4.38%).
MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $18.42 (+0.88%), up 0.87% at $18.58 in pre-market.
Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $11.22 (+2.47%), up 1.52% at $11.39 in pre-market.
Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $11.88 (+1.33%), up 3.66% at $11.88 in pre-market.
CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $10.26 (+2.09%), up 1.07% at $10.37 in pre-market.
CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $11.22 (+1.58%).
Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $52.08 (-0.42%), down 0.15% at $52 in pre-market.
Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $89.30 (+11.4%), up 5.88% at $94.55 in pre-market.
ETF Flows
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs:
Daily net flow: $92 million
Cumulative net flows: $39.6 billion
Total BTC holdings ~ 1.17 million.
Spot ETH ETFs
Daily net flow: -$4.82 million
Cumulative net flows: $2.66 billion
Total ETH holdings ~ 3.6 million.
Source: Farside Investors
Overnight Flows
Chart of the Day
The chart shows BTC spent by wallets owned by small and retail investors and whales.
Small addresses are currently spending $10.7 million in BTC each hour, a 48% decline from the peak of $20.6 million in November.
While You Were Sleeping
Crypto Consortium T3 Helps Spanish Authorities Freeze $26.4M Linked to Crime Syndicate (CoinDesk): The T3 Financial Crime Unit, comprising investigators from Tron, Tether and TRM Labs, helped dismantle a European crime syndicate laundering money through cryptocurrency.
Pudgy Penguins’ Layer 2 Network, Abstract, Struggles to Attract Liquidity (CoinDesk): Abstract has struggled to attract liquidity since starting up on Jan. 27 with heavy transaction volume.
Polymarket Still Skeptical of U.S Bitcoin Reserve Despite David Sacks’ Assurance (CoinDesk): The Polymarket prediction market assigns just a 16% chance that President Trump will establish a U.S. bitcoin reserve.
Bitcoin Extends Advance After Fed Meeting, Powell Commentary (Bloomberg): Bitcoin climbed past $105,000 early Thursday after comments some traders saw as pro-crypto by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at Wednesday’s press conference.
Trump Lashes Out at a Favorite Nemesis: The Federal Reserve (The Wall Street Journal): Shortly after the Fed’s FOMC press conference ended, President Trump posted on Truth Social criticizing Powell for his handling of U.S. inflation.
France’s Shrinking Economy Betrays Urgent Need to Overcome Budget Wrangles (CNBC): France’s economy contracted 0.1% in Q4, heightening urgency for Prime Minister François Bayrou to navigate political deadlock and pass a 2025 budget.
In the Ether
Ether (ETH) 3.5% in the past 24 hours to $2,519 as of 18:59 UTC on June 30, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model, supported by continued institutional demand, network upgrades, and major retail platform integrations.
Institutional interest remains robust, with CoinShares reporting $429 million in net inflows into ether investment products over the past week and nearly $2.9 billion year-to-date. This trend has coincided with a declining ETH supply on exchanges and rising staking levels, with over 35 million ETH —a round 28% of the total supply — now locked in proof-of-stake contracts. Market analysts suggest that these factors are reducing liquid supply and bolstering ether’s long-term investment thesis.
Robinhood announced on Monday that it is developing its own Layer-2 blockchain using Arbitrum’s rollup infrastructure. The network is not yet live, but the initiative will eventually support Ethereum staking, tokenized stock trading, and perpetual crypto futures. Although the L2 is under development, the decision to build it on Ethereum’s rollup ecosystem is seen as a long-term vote of confidence in Ethereum’s scalability roadmap.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also introduced a new digital identity framework using zero-knowledge proofs. This system allows users to verify traits or credentials without revealing private data and is designed to help Web3 apps incorporate privacy-preserving identity systems. Analysts view this as a key step toward wider adoption of decentralized applications requiring sensitive user authentication.
Meanwhile, the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) kicked off in Cannes, France, gathering more than 6,400 attendees and 500 speakers. The event showcases Ethereum’s ongoing developer momentum through presentations on new tools, scaling strategies, and protocol improvements.
Despite the positive momentum, ETH remains just below its 200-day moving average, suggesting technical barriers still exist. However, the confluence of inflows, developer progress, and scaling plans continues to support a constructive outlook.
Technical Analysis Highlights
- Ether traded between $2,438.50 and $2,523 from June 29 19:00 to June 30 18:00, marking a 3.47% range.
- The largest spike occurred during the 22:00–23:00 UTC window on June 29, when ETH surged 2.9% on volume of 368,292 ETH, briefly pushing through the $2,500 barrier.
- On June 30 at 15:00 UTC, ETH found strong support around $2,438 on above-average volume, confirming a bullish floor.
- A local high of $2,523 was reached earlier in the day, establishing resistance just above the psychological $2,500 level.
- During the final hour from 18:00 to 18:59 UTC on June 30, ETH retraced from an intraday peak of $2,499.19 to close at $2,487.19.
- A sharp upward move between 18:20–18:21 saw ETH climb 1.6% on 6,318 ETH volume, stalling near $2,499.
- As of 20:23 UTC on June 30, ETH traded at $2,519, up 3.49% in 24 hours, signaling renewed bullish momentum into the Asia open.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Circle (CRCL), the company behind the USDC stablecoin, said Monday it has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form a federally regulated national trust bank.
A federal trust charter would bring Circle under direct OCC oversight, aligning it with how traditional financial institutions are regulated. If approved, the new entity, which would be called First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A. would oversee custody of USDC reserves and offer services tailored to institutions. If approved, Circle would join the ranks of federally chartered institutions like Paxos and Anchorage, both of which previously secured trust bank status to offer crypto-related services nationwide.
The trust bank status would allow Circle to operate across state lines without obtaining separate licenses in each state — a hurdle that has complicated expansion for many digital asset companies. It would also permit Circle to offer regulated digital asset custody services to institutional customers.
The move signals a strategic effort by Circle to solidify its regulatory standing as the U.S. mulls legislation like the GENIUS Act, which would create new guardrails for dollar-backed stablecoins. The company said becoming a national trust bank would help it meet anticipated requirements under the bill, which passed through the Senate earlier this month and now awaits a vote in the House of Representatives.
«By applying for a national trust charter, Circle is taking proactive steps to further strengthen our USDC infrastructure,» Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a statement. «We will align with emerging U.S. regulation for the issuance and operation of dollar-denominated payment stablecoins, which we believe can enhance the reach and resilience of the U.S. dollar, and support the development of crucial, market neutral infrastructure for the world’s leading institutions to build on.”
Circle went public last month and issues the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USDC, and the leading euro-pegged token EURC.
The OCC, which oversees national banks and federal savings associations, must still review and approve Circle’s application. The agency has granted similar charters to a handful of crypto firms in recent years, signaling growing regulatory acceptance of digital asset companies operating within the traditional banking framework.
UPDATE (June 30, 2025, 20:50 UTC): Adds additional information.
Hedera’s native token HBAR HBAR extended its rally on Sunday, trading up 2.1% to $0.1519 as of 19:56 UTC on June 30, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model.
The move follows a flurry of ecosystem updates that broaden Hedera’s enterprise reach and reinforce its growing footprint in AI, gaming, and sustainability.
On June 24, Blockchain for Energy (B4E), a nonprofit focused on sustainability data management in the energy sector, officially joined the Hedera Governing Council. B4E already runs its carbon tracking platform on the Hedera network, and its addition brings domain expertise in emissions reporting and digital MRV (measurement, reporting, and verification) standards. As a council member, B4E will run its own node and contribute to governance decisions—particularly those aligned with environmental transparency and enterprise accountability.
Just two days later, Hedera unveiled its AI Studio, an open-source software development kit designed to help developers build decentralized applications powered by artificial intelligence. The suite includes an Agent Kit that integrates with LangChain and enables AI agents to interact directly with Hedera’s consensus and token services using natural language commands. The goal is to lower the barrier for AI-native apps while maintaining onchain auditability, transparency, and regulatory alignment.
On the gaming front, Hedera Foundation announced on June 19 a partnership with The Binary Holdings (TBH), a Web3 infrastructure firm. The collaboration aims to bring Hedera-based gaming apps to mobile users in Southeast Asia via OneWave, TBH’s decentralized app store. Integrated into native telecom platforms across Indonesia and the Philippines, OneWave is expected to onboard over 169 million users with built-in Web3 rewards and onchain verification.
Meanwhile, in mid-June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began a formal review of the Canary HBAR ETF, which would offer direct exposure to HBAR via a regulated investment vehicle. A public comment period is now open ahead of the SEC’s July 7 deadline. If approved, the ETF could catalyze broader institutional access and further legitimize HBAR’s role in capital markets—though regulatory scrutiny remains high, and analysts remain divided on long-term token utility.
Technical Analysis Highlights
- HBAR traded in a 4.1% range from $0.1478 to $0.1538 between June 29 19:00 UTC and June 30 18:59 UTC.
- A strong breakout occurred during the 22:00 hour on June 29, with price surging to $0.154 on volume of 104.5M units.
- Major support formed at $0.148 between 14:00–15:00 UTC on June 30, with 80.6M units traded.
- From 18:00–18:59 UTC on June 30, HBAR showed a V-shaped recovery, dipping to $0.149 before rebounding.
- During the 18:20–18:21 UTC window on June 30, price stabilized with 1.3M in volume, forming short-term support at $0.149.
- As of 19:56 UTC on June 30, HBAR traded at $0.1519, up 2.1% for the day with resistance seen at $0.1538.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
ETH Price Surges as $2.9B Inflows, EthCC, and Robinhood’s L2 Fuel Bullish Sentiment
Circle Applies for National Trust Bank Charter
HBAR Climbs 2.1% as Traders Digest ETF Review, AI Launch, and Energy Governance Move
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